September Update: Trusting the Tech Free Summer Camp Experience

by Ariella Rogge on September 01

After the summer was over, I ran across an article in The Atlantic entitled The New Parent Trap. In it, there are stories of summer camps struggling to find the balance between responding to the desire of parents to “see” (both in photos and in communication) their kids at summer camp and many of the positive outcomes of the summer camp experience.

This is a challenge for all of us as parents and as camp professionals. We know “distance” is part of the magical ingredients of a camp experience–and, I would argue, that trusting the distance is even more important. This does not mean throwing all cares to the wind and hoping for the best ROI…it means asking the right questions, keeping the conversation real, and–sometimes–allowing ourselves and our campers to navigate the discomfort.

We often talk about our ongoing relationships with our camp parents as partnerships. We are privy to a special time and place where your child can discover new strengths, bump up against new challenges, and find new solutions–with the help from other friends and trusted adults.

Trust is an essential part of the Sanborn Western Camps experience. Without it, we couldn’t live in the natural world in tents without walls or cabins without locks. We couldn’t have 16 year olds acting as near-peer mentors for younger campers. We couldn’t have 21 year old staff members leading twelve 10 year olds up Mount Sherman. We couldn’t let campers walk down to the barns or to the lodge or to the backstop with their friends on their way to activities. We couldn’t provide professional opportunities for emerging adult staff to look around, realize they are the “adultiest-adult” and make mission/core-values based decisions. Without trust, camp wouldn’t be camp.

But developing, deepening and maintaining trust requires diligence–and there will always be missteps. Some that stand out from this summer include some sunburns, misjudging the weather, forgetting the first aid kit, missing the email and not always taking enough time to ask the right questions and making assumptions. Yes, it would be great if everything was perfect, but that isn’t realistic.

At the beginning of the summer, when the wildfire danger was very high, we had quite a few phone calls with concerned parents and we appreciated every single one of them. They provided us with the opportunity to share our processes, procedures and plans as well as hear about other considerations being taken in different parts of the country. We sent out regular emails and updates and received notifications about potential weather and fire events–but those phone calls did something far more powerful: they added trust to, what could be considered, a transactional relationship.

Similarly, when parents reach out expressing concerns about their campers not wanting to come back, we can share the perspective of decades of experience working with tweens and teens who are developmentally trying to stretch their sense of self and autonomy–and help them find the language and words to express the value of these independent experiences.

We all want to, and do, trust our kids. And the most interesting part about a camp experience? By trusting the experience, we demonstrate to campers (and staff) that we trust them. Trust is a responsibility; trust provides a sense of belonging; trust makes us feel safe and included; and trust can often be repaired with honest, humble communication, shared experiences and time. (Just a few more ingredients to add to “camp magic”.)

We thank each and every camper, staff member, camp alum, friend of camp and camp parent for such an incredible 2026 summer. It is an honor to get to watch your children learn to trust in themselves, in each other, in their staff members and in the greater world around them. There can never be enough pictures to capture all of the memories, moments and experiences of a Sanborn summer–but the expanded capacity to do hard things, by trusting in yourself and in others–will last a lifetime.

“Trusting” we will see you again in 2027!

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Ariella Rogge
About Ariella Rogge

Ariella started her career at Sanborn when she was twelve. After five years of camper and five years of Sanborn staff experience, she continued her work with kids in the high school classroom. Ariella and her family returned to Sanborn in 2001 to take on the Program Director role which she held til 2012. She and Elizabeth Marable became co-directors of High Trails in 2013 and then Ariella became the High Trails Director in 2020. In the fall of 2022 she became the Director of Sanborn Western Camps, overseeing the director teams of both Big Spring and High Trails. She lists mountain golf, Gymkhana, climbing mountains and making Pad Thai in the backcountry as some of her favorite activities at camp. Ariella received a B.A. in English from Colorado College and is a certified secondary English educator,an ACCT Level 2 Ropes Course Technician, an ARC lifeguard and NREMT and WEMT. She lives in Florissant in the summer and in Green Mountain Falls during the school year so she can stay involved with the busy lives of her husband, Matt, and two sons, Lairden and Karsten.